Question of the Day

Whose side of the story do you believe?

BALTIMORE (AP) - A police officer at Coppin State University in Baltimore shot and killed a man who had just fired at a moving car near the campus, authorities said.

The suspected shooter was pronounced dead on the scene Tuesday evening and the officer wasn’t hurt, Baltimore police spokesman T.J. Smith said at a news conference at the northwest Baltimore site. There were no reports of any other injuries.

Smith said that around 6:20 p.m., two cars approached from the area of a nearby mall on a street near the campus. A uniformed campus officer was driving an unmarked car on the same street as part of a patrol to deter vehicle break-ins, he said.

The police spokesman said one of the cars stopped and the officer’s vehicle stopped behind it. A man got out of the passenger side of the car and began shooting at the second car approaching from the mall, Smith said.

The university officer then got out of his vehicle and shot at the gunman, striking him, Smith said, adding the two cars then sped away. A gun was recovered at the site, Smith said.

The university’s officers don’t wear body cameras but surveillance cameras recorded some of the incident, Smith said.

Smith did not disclose the races of the suspect or the officer, and said the identity of the man wasn’t immediately being released while the family was notified. He described the slain man as a young adult and said he was not a Coppin student.

Former Baltimore Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm, now the director of public safety for Coppin State University Police, also went to the scene. Hamm said the university officer “did exactly what he was trained to do. He saw a dangerous situation; he did his job.”

Hamm also said the university was never placed on a security lockdown as the incident did not occur on campus.

Baltimore police and Coppin police have concurrent jurisdiction over the city street where the shootings occurred and both are investigating, Smith said. He also said officers are seeking the drivers of the two cars that sped off after the shooting, as well as any passengers.